is a type of Fiction which self-consciously addresses the devices of fiction. It is the literary term describing fictional writing that self-consciously and systematically draws attention to its status as an artefact in posing questions about the relationship between fiction and reality, usually, Irony and self-reflection. In a sense, it can be compared to presentational theatre, that does not let the audience forget they are viewing a play; metafiction does not let the reader forget he or she is reading a fictional work.
Metafiction is primarily associated with Modernist and Postmodernist literature, but is found at least as early as Cervantes ' '' Don Quixote '' and Chaucer 's 14th Century '' Canterbury Tales ''.
In the '', Coover's ''The Babysitter'' and ''The Magic Poker'', Vonnegut's '' Slaughterhouse Five '', and Gass's ''Willie Master's Lonesome Wife''.
Some common metafictive devices include:
- A work of fiction within a fiction (e.g. Hamlet , The Laughing Man , The Crying Of Lot 49 )
- A novel about a writer writing a novel (e.g. '' Secret Window, Secret Garden '', '' At Swim-Two-Birds '', '' Atonement '', '' The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time '', '' The Counterfeiters '').
- A novel about a reader reading a novel (e.g. '' Neverending Story '', '' If On A Winter's Night A Traveler '').
- A novel within the novel (e.g. '' Sophie's World '').
- A story addressing the specific conventions of story, such as title, paragraphing or plots. (e.g. '' Lost In The Funhouse '' by John Barth )
- A Non-linear novel, which can be read in any order other than from beginning to end (e.g. ''The Unfortunates'' by B. S. Johnson , '' Rayuela '' by Julio Cortazar ).
- Narrative Footnotes , which continue the story while commenting on it (e.g. '' Pale Fire '', '' House Of Leaves '').
- A novel wherein the author (not merely the narrator) is a character (e.g. '' A Series Of Unfortunate Events '', '' Life Of Pi '', '' Everything Is Illuminated '', '' The People Of Paper '', '' Breakfast Of Champions '', '' Slaughterhouse Five '', '' Song Of Susannah '').
- A movie in which a character reads a fictional story (e.g. '' The Princess Bride '', Disney Channel 's '' Life Is Ruff '')
- A movie or television show in which a character begins humming, whistling, or listening to (on a radio, etc), the show or movie's Theme Song (e.g. the final scene of " Homer's Triple Bypass ", from '' The Simpsons '', or when Sam Carter hums the theme from '' Stargate SG-1 '' during the episode " Chimera ", or the second Collector from '' Demon Knight '').
- A Parallel Novel which has the same setting and time period as a previous work, and many of the same characters, but is told from a different perspective (e.g. '' Till We Have Faces '' by C. S. Lewis , '' Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead '' by Tom Stoppard , '' Grendel '' by John Gardner ).
- A work of fiction directly referencing another work that internally references the first work. (e.g. Weird Al Yankovic appearing on '' The Simpsons '', when he himself sings songs that reference ''The Simpsons''.)
- A story that anticipates the reader's reaction to the story.
- Characters who do things because those actions are what they would expect from characters in a story. (e.g. '' Scream '', '' Who Framed Roger Rabbit '')
- Characters who express awareness that they are in a work of fiction (e.g. '''', '' Deadpool '', '' Uso Justo '', '' 1/0 '')
- A real pre-existing piece of fiction X, being used within a new piece of fiction Y, to give the illusion that Y's fictional world is "our world", e.g. the scene in '' Clerks '' when Dante Hicks and Randal Graves discuss the '' Star Wars '' saga.
- A story where the author is not a character, but interacts with the characters. (e.g. '' She-Hulk '', '' Animal Man '', Betty Boop , Daffy Duck in '' Duck Amuck '', '' Breakfast Of Champions '')
- A dialogue between two characters who interact within the dialogue with the author himself, who enters the dialogue he is writing as a character created by him. ('' Gödel, Escher, Bach '')
Contemporary author Paul Auster has made metafiction the central focus of his writing and is probably the best known active novelist specialising in the genre.
Metafiction may figure for only a moment in a story, as when "Roger" makes a brief appearance in Roger Zelazny 's '' Chronicles Of Amber '', or it may be central to the work, as in '' The Life And Opinions Of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman ''.
As a literary device, metafiction is frequent feature of post-modernist literature. Examples such as '' If On A Winter's Night A Traveler '' by Italo Calvino , "a novel about a person reading a novel" as above, can be seen as exercises in metafiction.
It can be used in multiple ways within one work. For example, novelist Tim O'Brien , a Vietnam War veteran, writes in his short story collection '' The Things They Carried '' about a character named "Tim O'Brien" and his war experiences in Vietnam. Tim O'Brien, as the narrator, comments on the fictionality of some of the war stories, commenting on the "truth" behind the story, though all of it is fiction. Likewise, in the story chapter ''How to Tell a True War Story'', O'Brien comments on the difficulty of capturing the truth while telling a war story. According to Paul De Man all fiction is metafictional, since all works of literature are concerned with language and literature itself. Some elements of metafiction are similar to devices used in Metafilm techniques.
See Also: Metafilm
Charlie Kaufman is a screenwriter who often uses this narrative technique. In the film '' Adaptation '', his character Charlie Kaufman ( Nicolas Cage ) tortuously attempts to write a screenplay adapted from the book '' The Orchid Thief '', only to come to understand that such an adaptation is impossible. Many plot devices used throughout the film are uttered by Kaufman as he develops a screenplay, and the screenplay, which eventually results is ''Adaptation'' itself.
- Hutcheon, Linda , ''Narcissistic Narrative. The Metafictional Paradox'', Routledge 1984, ISBN 0-415-06567-4
- Waugh, Patricia, ''Metafiction. The Theory and Practice of Self-conscious Fiction'', Routledge 1988, ISBN 0-415-03006-4
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